As with the recent meet & greet with Jonas Hofmann and Tim Oermann in the first week of the Easter holidays, a lot of happy children gathered at the BayArena again. This time, goalkeeper Jonas Omlin and team-mate Montrell Culbreath were quizzed by the youngsters. And of course, the round of questions started with the eagerly anticipated classic of all questions: "Ronaldo or Messi?". But the two interviewees were unable to agree: Culbreath promptly decided in favour of Christiano Ronaldo without much deliberation, while Omlin's choice was clearly Lionel Messi, and he also named Gianluigi Donnarumma as the top goalkeeper. It was also a controversial question among the kids, and murmurs in the ranks could not be ignored for both answers.
saves and debuts
The kids were also keen to know which games had been the absolute highlights of their careers to date. Omlin replied in line with the initial question: "During my time at Montpellier, we also played against Paris Saint-Germain. Back then, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Messi were still playing together, so there was quite a lot of pressure on my goal. I actually managed to save the attempts from Mbappé and Messi, but Neymar then scored and we lost the game. It was still fun though!" Culbreath said: "I definitely have to mention the games against Bayern Munich in the league and Arsenal in the Champions League. Being able to play at such a level was special. I'll also always remember my first Bundesliga goal on my first team debut against RB Leipzig."
The insights into their beginnings in football were also exciting. Omlin, who grew up in Switzerland, revealed he always wanted to be between the posts: "My dad was also a goalkeeper, so it was an obvious choice for me right from the start." Culbreath, on the other hand, first played football in the garden with friends and later for seven years at FC Kaiserslautern near his home until Bayer 04 brought him to Leverkusen. The eager listeners were then delighted to receive tips from the players: While Omlin practised the well-known triangle technique for goalkeepers with all the kids in the room to make it easier to hold on to balls, Culbreath told them: "On the wing - like me - it's important you always have fun and don't be afraid. This is your lane, you can let off steam."
